


The story of that one time when Tim Drake forgot his own birthday

by Li_La_Lou



Category: Batfamily - Fandom, Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, M/M, Surprise Party, Tim's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 04:12:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11547246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Li_La_Lou/pseuds/Li_La_Lou
Summary: “Now, aren't you unbelievable?”, Jason chuckled, shaking his head, as he walked up to Tim and opened his arms. “What is the whole deal of pretending we forgot your birthday, when you forget it yourself!”





	The story of that one time when Tim Drake forgot his own birthday

Tim Drake woke up from a sound that he wasn't used to.

Complete and all-surrounding silence. 

Confusedly blinking he rubbed his eyes as he sat up, trying to spot the glowing red numbers of the digital clock that was standing on his nightstand. But no matter how much he looked around, how hard he forced his eyesight to go clear, the bright red digits couldn't be found. 

This was irritating but not enough to make Tim worry. With a yawn he pulled his blanket aside and swung his legs out of the bed. Cool air stroke his legs and the room was filled by the sound of his bare feet, stumbling cross the floor. 

 

When he drew open the curtains and the sunlight hit his eye, he was blinded for a moment. Now that warm light streamed into the bedroom, Tim's eyes finally decided to work properly as well. 

Time to solve the alarm clock-mystery. 

He went back to his bed and knelt down beside it, facing his nightstand or rather what was on top of it. The clock was shut down indeed. Curious. 

With a confused frown Tim picked it up and turned it in his hands, investigating. The wire had been pulled from the socket, though Tim couldn't figure out who had done this and most importantly why. The lack of information, which came with an enormous lack of explanation, bothered him but he was confident he would find out more about it later.

 

With some quick moves he plugged the clock back in. Getting the electricity that it needed, the device was now able to tell him that it was 10:37. Rather late for the boy to wake up. Instantly a bunch of theories shot through his brain but he figured that the most likely one was that Damian had pulled the wire so that Tim would sleep in and wouldn't attend breakfast.

He simply shook his head, sighing about how infantile his younger brother could be at times, and finally got around to putting some socks on his feet and leaving his room. 

 

Usually at this time of day the hallway would be flooded with noises – sounds of Damian yelling at Jason, Jason laughing at Damian, Dick trying to calm them down, footsteps, doors being slammed shut, music coming from the radio... 

Today there was nothing of this. 

 

Tim knew – well, he didn't exactly know but he was rather certain – that his family was probably down to something, though he couldn't think of what that would be. Surely he would find out very soon. This was most likely to be all part of a prank or joke he didn't quite get yet. 

 

Entering the kitchen, Tim finally came across the first trace of human life in the manor today.

Damian sat at the kitchen counter, a cup of tea in front of him and a newspaper in his hands. Tim skipped the 'good morning', knowing that it was safer to just peacefully co-exist rather than trying to start a conversation. So instead he simply got himself some coffee and sat down on the counter as well.

 

After a while, Tim noticed the younger boy kept on peeking over the upper edge of his newspaper, staring at him for a second before going back to reading. 

After the third time Tim groaned out and turned to face Damian. “What is it? Something on my face?”

The boy shook his head, not looking up at Tim  _ this time _ . “No, it's just as hideous as always. Nothing you can do about it, I guess.”, he replied dryly, his eyes glued to the lines in front of him. 

Tim just rolled his eyes and leaned back. “Ah, there it is. My 'good morning-insult', almost missed it. Almost.”, he said sarcastically before taking another sip of his coffee. “Where are the others anyway?”

Damian shrugged and finally put away the annoyingly rustling paper. “Why would I know. Richard ran off with Todd, didn't told me where to.” 

Tim tilted his head but then he just shrugged it off. It had been a while since Jay and Dick last hung out together, just the two of them, so this was no big deal. Of course, usually at least Jason would wait until Tim had woke up before he went off but on the other hand, Tim had slept in today and he completely understood that Jason neither wanted to ruin the plans nor wake Tim once he was actually asleep. 

“Did they tell you when they're gonna be back?”, Tim asked casually before finishing his coffee – well, at least the first cup for today. 

 

The expression in Damian's eyes had changed a little as he slowly shook his head but Tim couldn't exactly tell in which way. If he would have been forced to have a guess he would have said a mixture of disbelief and honest confusion but Damian had always been hard to read and Tim surely didn't see a reason for him to be confused. “No...”, he said a little too slow to sound unconcerned. “But Richard mentioned that it won't be until dusk.”

“Alright.”, the older boy just nodded and reached for the newspaper.

 

Suddenly Damian shot up like a bat out of hell, mumbled something that sounded like 'gotta take care of something', and disappeared from the kitchen. 

Now Tim was the one whose eyes displayed his honest confusion. 

Why was everybody acting so weird today? Something was so extremely off and Tim had to know what it was – now – or he would be around 30% more likely to go insane than on a regular day. 

So he skipped the next three cups of coffee he would have on any other day, put the newspaper aside, and went down to the cave. 

Neither did he meet Alfred on the way nor did he find Bruce when he entered. This was getting more and more strange. A part of him started to worry but then again, if something would have happened, why would Damian be here and just fine? Therefore the other part of him was growing more and more dominate.  _ Why did everyone leave him alone just like that? _

Seriously, a good morning kiss from Jason, a note from Dick on the table, a memo from Bruce, saying that he was working on a case and wouldn't be home today – was this too much to ask for? A little information?

 

Tim sighed and rubbed his eyes, letting his fingers run through his hair. He forced his thoughts to calm down but he knew that staying at home, especially with Damian around, who would probably be as eager as always to go on his nerves, he would just dive deeper and deeper into those gloomy thoughts.

He figured that his time was to precious for this and within no time he was all dressed up in his Red Robin-suit and ready to go.

“Damian!”, he yelled up as he grabbed his bo staff and checked if the grappling hook had enough rope.

“What do you want?”, the younger male's voice came from the top of the stairs.

“I'm going on patrol! In case anyone comes back home, please tell them so!”, Tim shouted, leaning closer to the stairs so that Damian would hear him better.  _ Because I am not a jerk who disappears without a trace _ , he added in his mind but that was not a thought to be actually voiced. 

  
  


Only a little later Tim was on Gotham's rooftops, gazing over the city.

He had been right. The cool wind up here and the familiar sounds that filled the air were all it took to calm him down.

“Alright..”, he breathed and closed his eyes for a split second. When he opened them again they were focused and filled with determination. He reached for the switch on his earpiece, turning on the comm-system. “Oracle, are you by any chance around right now?”, he asked into the blue, not sure if anyone was listening on the other side of the line.

 

It took the girl a few seconds to answer but at least she did. This was all that Tim had hoped for – hearing a familiar voice... that didn't belong to Damian.

“Hey, Red Robin! How's it goin'?”, Barbara replied and Tim could vividly picture the grin was spread across her face.

He chuckles softly and put his hand on his hip. “Oh, I'm good. Looking for something to do, though. Anything up?” He knew that his chances were rather bad. If something big was going on, he would already know. Still, it didn't hurt to ask. 

“Well, I'm not sure but there are some rumors that there is a casino for illegal gambling in a storehouse close to the harbor. It's still rather early, at least for those kind of people so I guess there won't be all too many guys you'd have to deal with... you should still be careful though”, Barbara explained, the sound of keys getting hit in the background.

Tim was on his way before she was even done talking. This suited Tim down to the ground.

 

Babs sent him the address and shortly after he stood in front of the heavy steel doors of a rather inconspicuous storehouse.

Mentally he was already making up a cool one-liner. When Dick or Jay did it, dropping an amazing punchline seemed like the easiest thing in the world. To Tim, who was a little less blessed with creativity, it was a slightly more difficult task. 

But as Tim kicked the doors open and his gaze fell of what was lying being them, a smart remark was the last thing he cared about.

  
  


“ **_Happy Birthday, Tim!!_ ** ”, a whole bunch of voices shouted all at once, arms were cheerfully rose into the air, balloons flew around, flashing light blinded Tim and he stumbled back.

_...Oh... _

As the realization hit him he felt stupid and embarrassed. How could anyone possibly forget his  _ own _ birthday? 

He quickly tried to act over his surprise but apparently it was a lot more obvious than he could wish for. Jason's laugh was the first thing that he actively noticed. 

“Now, aren't you unbelievable?”, he chuckled, shaking his head, as he walked up to Tim and opened his arms. “What is the whole deal of pretending we forgot your birthday, when you forget it  _ yourself _ !”

Tim sighed and let himself sink in his lover's arms. “In my defense, it had been a really tough week...”, he murmured against Jason's chest, though it sounded more like a question than an explanation.

“Sure thing”, Jason chuckled softly, kissing his boyfriend's hair. “Happy birthday, Timbo...”

 

Dick was the next to congratulate Tim. He just went over Tim's little, stupid mistake and hugged him with a smile. Shamefully he was the only one to be so kind. Well, him and Cass.

But neither Steph, Babs or Damian, not even Bruce missed the chance to tease Tim about it – though they varied in how mean their comments were.

 

With the party, Dick had excelled himself. The music was a wonderful mixture of everything that Tim liked, the atmosphere was cheerful, people were dancing and singing along. The cake was Tim's favorite as well, lemon cake with chocolate frosting. Dick had even added some M&M's – arranged them to the word 'Timmy' – on top of it. Balloons and glitter filled the air, mixed with the sound of laughter.

Tim couldn't thank Dick enough for it all but the older male just shrugged it off. “Oh, That's not worth mentioning, Baby Bird.”, he would say with a smile.

Tim for his part made a mental note that he had to treat his brother for dinner or something after this. Last year he had organized Kon's birthday party and if he knew one thing for sure it was that Dick's effort was  _ definitely  _ worth mentioning.

At least he hadn't bought a present because that would have been far too much and there would have been nothing left for Tim than to scream and hug his brother for at least seven month. Dick was too good for this world.

 

As it was getting late, Tim was no longer wearing his suit but a pair of jeans that Damian had brought with him when he came over from the manor, and the cute, gray sweater with the planet and starship pattern which he had gotten from Steph. Jason gently pulled Tim aside.

The boy had been spinning around in between his guest and had spent next to no time with his boyfriend. Time to change that.

“Care to come out with me for a moment?”, Jason smiled, pointing to the door. Instead of responding, Tim simply took Jason's hand in his and dragged him along, out of the hall.

 

The night air was cool and refreshing and Tim took a deep breath after the doors had shut behind them. “You guys are the best, do you even know that?”, he asked softly, leaning against Jason's shoulder.

“Oh, I didn't do much, to be honest. I just sneaked into your bedroom and shut your alarm down, so we would have a little more time for preparation.”, the taller man shrugged, wrapping his arm around his lover's shoulders.

“Oh, so that was you...”, Tim chuckled, brushing some hair out of his face. “Mystery solved, I guess...”

“Yeah...”, Jason muttered, the slight change in his tone making Tim look up. “You know, I think I didn't hand you your present yet, did I...?”, he smiled softly, drawing a small box from his pocket. 

“Oh, Jay...”, Tim sighed, a tender expression in his eyes. “You didn't have to...”

“I know. But I wanted to.”, Jay grinned with a tiny blush on his cheeks, almost invisible in the dim light but Tim still noticed it. “Well, here you go.”

Tim sighed softly as Jason handed him the box, playfully bumping his shoulder. “I love you, dork.”, he said, as he unwrapped the gift and opened the box.

 

Inside was a beautifully ornate fob watch. Tim's eyes widened a little and he quickly turned towards Jason. “It's breathtaking! Thank you, Jason! This is- oh my god...!”

But Jason just grinned and nodded towards the silver watch. “Open it.”

Tim blinked in confusion but instead of asking he just did as he was told and pushed the little button on the watch's side. It sprung open and inside of the cover, behind a thin glass, right next to the clock face, there was a picture of Jason and Tim.

It had been taken last winter, the two of them were cuddling together, sharing a scarf and not paying the faintest attention to the camera. Someone who didn't know better would probably think that they had spent hours posing for this single picture, the moment that was eternalized on the photo could just as well be a screenshot of some romantic movie, but actually Dick had caught them completely off guard. That was why it was Tim's favorite.

 

“Woah... This is- wow....”, Tim whispered softly, gently snuggling against Jason's side. “Thank you so much...”

“Well,-”, Jason grinned and pulled Tim a little closer, “-at least this will help your memory whenever you check the time, so you won't eventually forget about us, huh.”, Jason winked teasingly. 

Tim's cheeks turned red but he laughed as he pressed the watch against his chest and went on his tiptoes. “About you? Surely not”, he smiled before planting a tender kiss on Jay's lips. 

 

A tiny voice inside his head told Tim that he at least wouldn't forget about  _ this  _ birthday. The fact that Jason would remind him on every possible occasion of that one time he forgot his own birthday was only one reason.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Baby Bird!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoyed this at least a little even though it has next to know plot haha.  
> Tim is so out of it at times, I am rather certain he could forget his own birthday - either plan the greatest party of the year or completely miss it. There is no in between.


End file.
